This invention pertains to storage boxes, and in particular to a storage box which can be used on a commercial truck.
Commercial trucks have a need for storage compartments to store items such as tire chains, tools, tie-downs, and the like. It is not always practical to store these items in the truck cab, and therefore such storage boxes or compartments are typically attached to the outside of the truck. Additionally, such storage boxes can be used to house one or more portions of an operating system or auxiliary system of a commercial truck. For example, automotive batteries make up a portion of the electrical operating system of a commercial truck. Often, the batteries of a commercial truck are housed in a storage box to provide protection and to facilitate access. As a further example, some commercial trucks employ auxiliary power units for operating various components of the truck without running the main vehicle power plant. Such an auxiliary power unit is an example of an auxiliary system of which the whole or portions can be housed in a storage box. Further examples of such operating and auxiliary systems include filters, fuel heaters, on-board engine pre-heaters, hydraulic pumps, and pumps and blowers for handling bulk cargo. For large trucks having significant ground clearance, storage boxes are usually located between the front and rear axles, and are frequently attached to the frame rail, or chassis of the truck.
A recent trend in large trucks has been to design the body of the truck to be aerodynamic to improve fuel economy. One particular area where aerodynamic body panels are now being used is in the area between the front and rear axles, particularly below the cab of the truck. This is the area traditionally occupied by fuel tanks and storage boxes. It is also becoming more prevalent among truck manufacturers to configure such aerodynamic body panels into a full-length side skirt fairing, which runs the entire length of the vehicle between the front and rear axles. Consequently, the fuel tanks and storage boxes on such trucks are oftentimes concealed by one or more aerodynamic body panels which can make up either a partial or a full-length side skirt fairing. Access to the fuel tank filler neck for fueling can be had through a small cutout in the body panel. On vehicles having partial or full-length side skirt fairings, access to the prior art storage boxes has been gained by reaching over the top of a body panel which makes up the fairing. In this arrangement, the access door of some prior art storage boxes has been located on the top of the box.
However, top-mounted doors provide only limited access to the interior contents of the storage box and, in addition, can cause back strain to persons accessing the contents. Alternatively, prior art storage boxes with vertically-hinged side doors can be used. However, the use of prior art storage boxes having vertically-hinged door configurations in conjunction with side skirt fairings sometimes requires the boxes to have a reduced width in order to provide adequate access clearance between the box and the fairing. This results in storage boxes of reduced size which do not utilize all of the available space between the truck frame rail and body panel. Also, access to prior art storage boxes is hindered by the various structural members that are employed to support and brace the body panels which make up the side skirt fairings. additional consequence, trucks requiring large storage boxes for housing certain systems sometimes cannot be configured with full-length skirt fairings due to the aforementioned problems.
It is therefore desirable to find a way to include full-width storage boxes having vertically hinged access doors on large commercial trucks that incorporate aerodynamic body panels as part of partial and full-length side skirt fairings.
A truck storage box having an access door, wherein the access door comprising an aerodynamic body panel of the kind used on commercial trucks and the like. In one embodiment the access door is hinged along a vertical hinge to open in a traditional door-like manner, as opposed to swinging upward or downward. The storage box can be affixed to the truck chassis between the front and rear axles of the truck. The aerodynamic body panel on the storage box can be overlapped on one end by an adjacent body panel such that an access door of the storage box can still be opened without interference between the two body panels. This allows a continuous aerodynamic surface to be provided for on the truck body, yet still allow for the access door to be opened.
The access door can further include a step or steps which can be used by a driver to ease ingress and egress from the cab of the truck or facilitate climbing to the top of the frame rails behind the cab. The step or steps can be affixed to the door through cutouts in the aerodynamic body panel. The storage box is preferably constructed of a strong material such that it can bear the weight of a person using the step or steps. More preferably, the material of construction is of a lightweight material such as aluminum to reduce weight.
The storage box can further comprise a latch to secure the access door. In one embodiment, the latch is configured such that it can be accessed by reaching behind the body panel at the top of the panel, but such that the latch is not visible to a casual observer. This renders the existence of the storage box invisible to passers-by, which provides security from theft. A mechanism to attach a lock to the latch or door can be further provided to add an additional level of security for the storage box.
The invention further includes a method of retrofitting a commercial truck having aerodynamic body panels with a storage box. In the method, a first body panel is removed from the truck. The first body panel is preferably located between the front and rear axles of the truck below the cab of the truck, and may be mounted to the truck by a mounting bracket or the like. The mounting bracket is removed, providing a space where the storage box can be installed. The storage box is secured to the truck. Preferably, the storage box is secured to the chassis frame rail of the truck by a secure method, such as by using bolts. If the removal of the mounting bracket has made accessible existing mounting holes in the frame rail, these can be advantageously used to assist mounting of the storage box. The first body panel is secured to a front access door of the storage box. The storage box is dimensioned such that when the first body panel is attached to the access door, it is located in the same position as it originally was on the truck prior to being removed. When an adjacent body panel is present, the first body panel is mounted to the access door of the truck such that the door can be opened without interfering with the adjacent body panel. This can be achieved by overlapping the adjacent body panel over the outer surface of the first body panel at the point where the body panels mate on the hinge side of the access door. If an adjacent body panel overlaps on the latch side of the door, the body panel affixed to the access door should overlap the outer surface of the adjacent body panel.